Vindication, Canadian Style

Canada's golden boy, Georges St. Pierre(Pictures), recently and emphatically
claimed vindication amid much fanfare in Montreal. Another Canadian
will be looking to do the same Tuesday in the Dream middleweight
grand prix in Japan.

The trajectory of Denis Kang(Pictures)'s career in recent years
closely resembles St. Pierre's. Both had career-defining victories
in 2006 and both fell from grace after suffering brutal knockouts
in 2007.

For Kang, a training partner of the UFC welterweight champion who
is looking to turn the corner in 2008, St. Pierre's victory must
certainly come as a welcoming omen.

"What can I say about greatness? GSP is like the Wayne Gretzky of
MMA. He really inspires me," exclaimed Kang about St. Pierre's
performance against Matt
Serra(Pictures).

Kang's loss to Yoshihiro
Akiyama(Pictures) in 2007 was not his first, but it
certainly was the most damaging to his career. It marked one of
those epochal moments often witnessed in the fight game in which
the winner assumes the previous accomplishments of his
opponent.

This has been the case in South Korea, where Akiyama saw his stock
rise dramatically after his huge win over Kang.

South Korea has been a key market for Kang, who has been a central
figure in disseminating MMA and bringing it to the South Korean
mainstream through commercial endorsements.

"I think it started with the Spirit MC events around 2005," Kang
said. "MMA was beginning to be known before that but not mainstream
yet. My Everlast commercial definitely brought a lot of viewers'
attention to MMA."

In defeat, Kang was usurped by Akiyama in the house that he had
helped build. But ask the middleweight stalwart if he feels
resentment for being used as a launching pad, and his reply will be
unexpectedly generous.

"No, I'm not bitter about it if that's what you mean," Kang said of
Akiyama's success. "To each his own. … I'm glad he's doing
well."

Kang, a seasoned professional who has been fighting for more than
10 years now, seems to understand this is part of the cycle. After
all, knocking off a top contender is also how he garnered his
success.

Somewhat of a journeyman earlier in his career, Kang managed to
string together a series of wins in smaller promotions in 2003. But
the MMA scene in North America wasn't the gold rush that it is now
and, like a modern-day Conde Koma, he headed outward to the obscure
country of South Korea in 2004.

There Kang joined an upstart promotion called Spirit MC, and the
marriage between the two has been a synergistic one, benefiting
both the fighter and the promotion.

Spirit MC has an interesting business model in that it functions
primarily as a promotion but also holds the managerial rights to
its fighters. The goal is basically to build up fighters to feed to
larger promotions, using the fighter to attract greater exposure
for its promotional brand, domestically and internationally.

While this has raised a litany of transparency issues, it has been
overall very positive in Kang's case. Incidentally, it has also
produced a successful model of cultivating and procuring talent
through "international feeder organizations," like Spirit MC and
Cage Rage.

This was a risky move, but Kang likes to say "the greater the risk,
the greater the glory." His gamble to South Korea worked.

In 2005, Spirit MC signed Kang to Pride, which at that time was
considered the pinnacle of the sport. Proving himself through
impressive wins over Takahiro
Oba(Pictures) and Andrei Semenov(Pictures), Kang was invited to the Pride
welterweight grand prix in 2006.

In the first round, he met Murilo Rua(Pictures), a heavy favorite to win the
tournament. As soon as the fight started, Kang threw a penetrating
straight right that shot down the pipe. Rua was rocked. Kang
smelled blood and charged in with a salvo of punches that dropped
the backpedaling Rua. He then unleashed a torrent of strikes on his
downed opponent before the referee pulled him off. The match lasted
a mere 15 seconds.

All of Rua's accomplishments then fell into Kang's hands -- another
part of the cycle.

Kang would make it to the finals of the grand prix, fight through a
torn bicep and drop a controversial split decision to tournament
winner Kazuo Misaki(Pictures).

But a star was born that year. Before the Anderson Silvas of the world,
Kang was the name that invariably came up when talking about the
middleweight division.

That is, until Akiyama came along.

In this week's middleweight tournament, Kang will be looking to
vindicate himself and prove why he's still relevant in the
division. His first challenge is a stiff one against a dangerous
striker in Gegard
Mousasi(Pictures) (13 of Mousasi's 20 wins came by
KO or TKO).

You would think that Kang would be a bit concerned coming off a
knockout loss, but he coolly responds that he didn't train all that
differently for this fight.

"Working in Montreal with GSP and in Vancouver at Revolution and
Universal has prepared me well," he said.

Also, the fact that he had a chance to train with fight guru Greg
Jackson back in December can't hurt. It will be interesting to see
if Kang, who likes to develop game plans for his fights, will
employ a similar wrestling-based tactic that found St. Pierre so
much success.

Not looking past Mousasi, though, Kang mentioned Akiyama as the
fighter he most wanted to face in the tournament. The storied
judoka had to pull out of the field, however, after re-injuring his
broken nose.

That narrative perhaps will have to wait for another time. The task
at hand is the Dream middleweight grand prix.

"Well, I want to win of course, but I am taking it one fight at a
time," Kang said. "I hope that this tournament gives me a chance to
showcase all my skills by pitting me against different types of
opponents."

His wish could come true. The tournament is filled with an eclectic
range of fighting styles, though the evolution of the fight game is
headed toward a convergence of styles that requires fighters to be
well versed in all aspects of MMA.

On paper Kang looks to be the most well-rounded fighter in the
field, which gives him an advantage on the competition. Add in the
fact that he has had tremendous success in tournament formats and
you have to start wondering if the stars are lining up for Kang
once again.

Yet he is spare with his words. Like St. Pierre, Kang seems content
to let his fists do the talking. This is vindication, Canadian
style.